Tag Archives | home business start-up

It may not seem to you that you need a real schedule – and to some it may even be repugnant to live in rigidity. More than likely the majority of people who start home businesses do so, for one reason to be on their own and to do things how and when they want to.

While any part of the above said may or may not be true to some extent, there is a definite need for at least some level of organization. There are important issues that do have time constraints and it can cause you a lot of trouble if they are missed.

Most critical are things like your domain registration being updated BEFORE it actually expires. Some registrars will start reminding you months ahead and #1 you may start ignoring them because 2-months ahead you don’t need to worry. #2 eMail is so very unreliable (deliverability) due to spam and spam filters and some are blocked completely (lost in space) because the mail service has inferior filter software. Sometimes because people don’t even read the email mixed up in all the spam or they are just disengaged.

Another critical element is your hosting account. It is usually set up on automatic debit but sometimes you may prefer to pay each month or so manually. In any case your website will be deactivated eventually. Unless it is a very long period of time where you have ignored this, the files will still be there and will display again as soon as you catch up on your fees. If they have really terminated your account you will have to rebuild the site.

Then there are things of lesser consequence that range from optional duties like checking your affiliate programs for commissions or to see what new information may be posted there that you didn’t receive through email. If you are using your blog like you really should be, then you may want to remind yourself to ‘blog today’ (as frequently as possible but no more than once a day is effective).

Of course if you have any automatic services that should be advertising you might want to check they really are, as well as be sure you are paid up so that you have some kind of list building or advertising going on at all times.

Lists are much easier to deal with if you have 3 formats – short term (today), mid-range (this week or month), and long-range (future goals or projects). This makes it much easier to deal with a big scratched out mess. Do no put anything on short term that you absolutely are not positive you will accomplish today. If necessary move it to tomorrow.

People seem to really want to believe in magic. They truly in many cases expect to see results without really doing much work. They start right out after a few weeks and already they are discouraged. Even though they know darn well they have invested very little effort, they wonder why they don’t see results. Then they start the ‘woe is me’ routine.

This does absolutely nothing to help your business and actually has the opposite effect. It zaps your motivation and you start really dragging your feet on doing anything differently or in greater volume which is what is necessary if you don’t see results. You are told not to get discouraged and to keep doing the work that is required to develop a business. This may give you a small ‘shot in the arm’ and you go on for another few weeks.

Then it is back again to ‘woe is me’ and this time you can recite a whole litany of the things you have done to promote your business but which have not produced results instantly. You may be starting to get skeptical as well as discouraged by this time. I mean who wouldn’t when you have invested a whole month of your life including a few hours of actual work.

Beyond this point if you are still not seeing anything (completely normal and usual) – your discouragement and skepticism has now spawned your hostility and you begin to make unfortunate remarks about your programs. Unfortunate because you will never sell something you don’t believe in and you have allowed being in a big unrealistic rush to completely ruin your mindset.

Your options at this point are to quit and get a job where you will see the money in a reasonable amount of time and know exactly how much and by when. Or you could always try to change your mindset to something realistic so that you could continue to develop an online home business long enough for your efforts to succeed.

Stop comparing yourself to people who have worked very hard for years to see substantial results. You haven’t yet so that is why they see it and you don’t. It’s not because they are liars. Stop thinking that you will somehow be different and will do this by osmosis.

Realize that if you have training available you probably need to take advantage of it. Not just so you know what to do, (which couldn’t be more critical) but as it will represent some structure and positivity with regard to starting a business.

Do not waste your precious time and energy on whining and doubt. Either get your head together with the right attitude to do this or just don’t do it at all. It’s very simple.

There is a new commercial on TV and it is actually from a technical college where someone earned a BS degree and is now able to repair electronic devices. Ho hum until he says, “I just love what I do and my wife says I am not going to work but going to play!” Now that stuck!

That is actually a great way to look at things and is very relevant to the idea that we do best what we enjoy doing. This is especially important with a home business when you are starting out and have a full-time day job as well as any number of family and other responsibilities. Would somebody in their right mind add more to do if it either wasn’t necessary or wasn’t fun?

Being necessary never makes anything fun because we are forced to do it rather than choose to do it because we like it. If you can look at your home business start-up as a hobby and maybe by some stretch of the imagination can enjoy doing the research and etc. that is necessary to start a business, chances are we will be able to achieve something significant.

Of course if we really need the extra money we hope to earn from our new business, it can be a positive motivator. Many home business entrepreneurs start out with ‘extra’ money in mind but secretly plot to someday bring the business to the level that they can quit their day job and fire their boss. Don’t try this at home or at least don’t burn any bridges until you are really sure you have replaced your steady income from your day job.

It’s also a real good plan if you have reached somewhere near retirement age and have some benefits possibly even including social security. It is best to save everything as long as you can and accumulate as much as you can for the day when you are really too old to work. If you can save your benefits and live on what you earn from your home business that is ideal.

This may take a few different turns where for example at first it is the other way around and you support yourself on severance pay, early retirement, pension, 401K, savings, or whatever until you develop a business that is actually producing a steady income. Make this time as brief as possible because again you should be thinking in terms of saving as much as you can for the future when you may really be unable to work anymore but still need to live.

It is a very sad fact that statistically way less people than you would imagine have substantial savings for their retirement. Especially thanks to the last recession many that should be looking to retire are looking for part-time work for seniors. Another recession could happen at any minute so try to be prepared. It is a true fact that many people lost their entire life savings, retirement, real estate investments and everything else in the last recession just 8 years ago. Starting over at retirement age must be really heart-breaking as well as an extremely almost insurmountable uphill battle.